On Friday, the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukrainian forces were facing fierce fighting around the city of Pokrovsk in the east. Russia has been using the villages captured by them near the town that acts as a logistics hub on an almost daily basis.
Zelenskyy in his nightly talk spoke about Ukraine’s current focal point, as noted by Ukraine’s top commander Oleksandr Syrskyi in a meeting of senior officials that the situation around Pokrovsk was the current focal point of its attention in the war, which began when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
What happens East of Pokrovsk looks like a large-scale withdrawal of remaining Ukrainian forces. Russians are already in #Selydove and reportedly reached the center of the 23,000 inhabitants town. Russian advance speed & Ukr. complaints indicate no meaningful defense in the area. pic.twitter.com/GDKcfCNQbJ
— Julian Röpcke🇺🇦 (@JulianRoepcke) August 28, 2024
The Ukraine army is facing stealthy fighting as Pokrovsk is among the most difficult areas right now, says top military commander. “All operational directions were covered, with particular focus on Pokrovsk. It receives the most attention,” Zelenskyy said.
He also noted that the Ukrainian forces are fighting in the northern borders of the Sumy region where Russian forces are gaining momentum by the week. Top commander Syrskyi also posted in a separate Telegram account that the Pokrovsk and five other sectors were among the most difficult theatres along the 1,000-kilometre front.
“The Russian Federation is paying the maximum price for attempting a ‘summer offensive,'” Syrskyi wrote. Pokrovsk, an area that has been focused by the Russians for a month, had a pre-war population of 60,000, who are all but evacuated now has 1,500 residents in the city, Serhii Dobriak, the head of the city’s military administration said.
